How To New Business wanting to learn how to get myself on the web.

Hi, Name Kris...I have a PC repair buisness that I have been running for about a 2 & a half years now. It has been doing half decent latley now that the word has been getting around. You see, I offer "Geek Squad" like services, except when my clients realize the difference in my prices...they are basically my clients for life. So I have not been spending to much time advertising at all due to the great word-of-mouth buisness I've been recieving, but not for long.

I just recently meet two fantastic Techs, although they are very new, I see a lot of potential....they sort of see my vision in where I want to go with this. I really want to offer them jobs as soon as possible, but obviously I will need to secure a lot more buisness in order to pay these guys what they deserve. So bring on the advertising....

So some of my questions are:

What is the best, free web hosting service around (at least until I build my own appachie server and get my T1 line hooked up.) I sort of want to go the free route at first due to me wanting to experiment with different advertising ideas and directions. I'm sure I will be make a lot of big and small changes very often, and do not want to pay a proffessional to keep recreating things for me until I figure out the final product.

What do you recommend for a person that is quite good with computers, but has never done any web development yet, to build my site with. I really don't have a ton of time to put into learning a new language or a complicated piece of software just yet.....I'm just so very busy all the time.

I don't know maybe there is a developer that wants to show off their skills, or get some good advertising for themselves on a site that will, hopefully, be viewed by a lot of my current clients, as well as, many new ones.

Anyways, any advice on how I should start, any insider "secrets" I should know of, or just your opinions on me or any of my ideas would be greatly apprieciated. Thanks, Kris

 

Hello Kris.

Insider Secret Rule #1
Never ever go with a free web hosting account. I see time and time again people who own a serious business and want to "test the waters" and go free web hosting, or just want something for "free." Web hosting isn't all that expensive - so go for a paid plan.

A few other reasons why:
- as a rule of thumb, the older your website is, the better indexed it can be by search engines. Therefore, don't waste a year or so of "testing the waters" when you could have been aging your website.

- typically you are limited with what you can do in a free hosting account

- tech support takes a back seat to paid customers

If you'd like more info, read my blog article on the drawbacks of free hosting.

About the T1 line. Oh man, you're just asking for a TON of problems landing in your lap and a lot of work. Why would you go this route? Keep things simple. Go with a hosting company to host your site and concentrate on your business and not the many problems and obstacles you will face. Also, like ishkey mentioned, the cost is outrageous.

To build a website, go with Expression Web or Dreamweaver and pick yourself up a basic html book. html is very easy to learn and one of the above programs pretty much will create the code for you.

If you really don't want to mess around too much with the design of a website (coding-wise), our hosting plans come with a site builder which is easy to use.

Just thinking outside of the box for a moment, maybe try swapping services. Put an ad on Craigslist and mention you will repair / upgrade or whatever someone's computer for 1 website design. Trading services is always a great thing to do in business.

What other assests do you have access to? Is your brother a dentist? Offer braces for someone's kids for 1 website. ..... just some ideas to get you thinking.

Just do me a favor - don't go free hosting. Please.

For some marketing thoughts, check out my blog and forum.

Good luck

 

I completely agree that you can trust http://www.eventurebiz.com/.
At least visit this site and see what services it offers. And don't forget about the blog. It includes important tips too.

 

I see where your going at. Ive just started my own hosting site. and if your interested I can cut you a deal on a custom hosting plan. cheap but just as good as the big time hosting sites.

Hosting yourself is a good thing, when you know what your doing. It can be very difficult

 

Thanks......Great Info!

Hi, Kris here. Wow, I had no idea how fairly priced this whole thing is gonna be. I will most certainly be changing direction on the "Home Apache/T1 Line" idea. I mean being that I presently have so much work...oh ya did I mention I'm in school (Info Science Major) and so little sleep it would be crazy to try and host this thing myself.

So here is some of the steps I have/will be taking:
~ I put an ad on craigs list, as directed
~ Downloaded a couple PDF intro guides to HTML(I just like to know how
things work)
~ Began developing & drawing out designs and ideas for my site

I have not decided on who I would like to host my site yet....The most important feature will be that it need to allow for VERY, frequent changes in designs, whether this is something to be concerned about...or if I am even wording this correctly, I'm not sure? / .

As far as the eventure site/service, I'm very impressed. As is I am with "HostedforCheap"...thanks to all.

A few more questions before I jump are:
~ What is this whole "SEO" idea or concept, something to be concerned
about right off the bat? Who or where to get the best introductory info?
(My site is mainly for these reasons: 1st - So I don't have to have "
Yahoo.com attached to my email. 2nd to provide current and future
clients general computer knowledge and help, maybe a forum and a
troubleshooting section. 3rd - Local advertising, I'm not worried about
going national (or global for that mattter) right away. I do not even have
the resources yet to do work outside of Westen Pennsylvania. In short,
how important is "SEO" to me.

Sorry for taking so long to respond to your replies, I've done 47 DSL installs over the last 2 weeks...very busy....I know sound like a broken record. Also I would like to thank everyone that has/had patience with my obvious lack of knowledge in this subject. Your friend Kris, ProPC & Systems - Owner/CEO/Tech#1

 

Hello Kris.

Glad to see you're rethinking the T1 idea. It really is a pain to have your own web server running out of your house.

I'll try to answer and comment to a few of your questions below:

As with any web hosting account with any company, it's your account. You can access it and change, add, and delete all day every day if you wish. There's no limit to changes. You're renting disk space online and you have the keys.

Here's Wikipedia's definition of SEO. The idea is you optimize your website by use of keywords, keyword phrases, links, other websites that link to you, etc. which all help Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines find your website when people type in a search.

For example, if you do PC repair in Las Vegas, NV, you want your website optimized (Search Engine Optimization) so that when someone goes to Yahoo Search and types in "Las Vegas PC repair," you want your website to come up first.

Like anything, learning how to optimize your website for search engine indexing will take time - it's not something I can explain all right here. Probably the best SEO expert out there is Aaron Wall. Check out his site SEObook.com.

Should you be concerned about it? Put it this way, my family owns a landscape company called Modern Landscape. We come up first or second in just about every search engine when someone types "Las Vegas Landscape Company" or "Contractor." This translates to a lot of calls. So many calls in fact, we don't really advertise much outside of that.

One of the best things you can do for search engine placements is to include keywords people would type in a search box to find you in your web address. For example, lasvegaslandscape.com or something.

Another site you might want to check out is Copyblogger for more on writing content on your website and getting it visible online.

Great idea. I'd test drive something like that and see how it goes. You might find a lot of people messaging you with problems ALL the time which could consume a lot of your time.

As noted above, optimize (Search Engine Optimization) your site for your local area. Make sure you create a landing page that is laser focused on what your customers are looking for.

Don't worry about the questions - that's why we're here.

 

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